The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 9: June 1997
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Report Reveals Pressing International Shark Conservation Needs
Sonja Fordham, Center for Marine Conservation, USA
Sharks around the world are falling prey to intense human predation
and staggering unintentional catches, yet domestic management
plans are rare and international shark management is non-existent. In
order to address these issues, the Center for Marine Conservation
(CMC) recently released a major study outlining a blueprint for action
by international and national fisheries and wildlife authorities to
promote conservation of sharks on a global scale. Entitled Managing
Shark Fisheries: Opportunities for International Conservation, the
report is a joint project of CMC and TRAFFIC International, the wildlife
trade monitoring program of The World Conservation Union and the
World Wide Fund for Nature, and serves as a companion volume to
TRAFFIC's 1996 shark trade study.
© 1989 by Sid F. Cook
All rights reserved.
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The report, prepared by Michael Weber and Sonja Fordham,
evaluates the potential to promote shark conservation under six
existing international fisheries agreements and three wildlife
conservation regimes against standards set forth by the recent United
Nations agreement on highly migratory and straddling fish stocks.
Incorporating the findings of the TRAFFIC Network's study of the
world trade in shark products, CMC's analysis reveals glaring gaps in
international management for shark and related species while
highlighting opportunities for improvement.
The report concludes that several existing international fisheries
management agreements can be applied to benefit sharks, but must be
strengthened to reflect a precautionary approach and other principles
of sound resource management. In addition, countries should seize
opportunities to promote shark conservation through international
wildlife treaties. Specifically, CMC recommends:
- Among the most immediate priorities is the initiation of programmes
to collect, evaluate, and disseminate information on the direct and
indirect catch of sharks, as well as basic life history characteristics;
- Countries should ratify and adhere to the UN Agreement on highly
migratory and straddling fish stocks, and become active members
of treaty organisations relevant to sharks;
- Existing regimes for the conservation of living marine resources
should be strengthened to reflect the precautionary approach and
other elements of sound fisheries management;
- Where treaty organisations have the authority to conserve other
fish and marine resources, they should begin formulating
management programs to address the incidental take and discard
of sharks;
- For areas where there are gaps in coverage, new agreements to
conserve sharks should be concluded;
- Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory
Species of Wild Animals (the Bonn Convention) should identify
populations of sharks that would benefit from international
agreements among range states, and convene negotiations to
develop necessary agreements under the Convention;
- As Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity draw up their
national strategies, they should take the opportunity to develop
better information and domestic management structures for sharks;
- Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES) should carefully consider proposals to list species
of sharks (and related species) that may qualify under CITES
criteria.
The report contains profiles of ten diverse shark species
important to fisheries and trade, several useful tables detailing
shark fishing and trade information by country, and membership of
international management regimes by countries landing sharks.
As this and many other reports have demonstrated, sharks (and
their close relatives) are vulnerable to rapid, global changes in fishing
pressure and increased demand for shark products. Effective
international conservation will rely on elevating the research and
management priority of sharks on a global scale. Countries around the
world must recognise the vulnerability of sharks and manage their
fisheries accordingly, using comprehensive, cooperative tools. A
number of such tools already exist, such as the UN Fish Stocks
Agreement. Others can be created, such as new shark conservation
agreements under the Bonn Convention. Now it is a matter of using
those tools to ensure a brighter future for shark populations world-wide.
Copies of the report are available by contacting the author.
Sonja Fordham
Center for Marine Conservation
1725 DeSales St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 USA
Fax: + 1 202.872.0619
Email: sonja@cenmarine.com
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